Yarnbomber Achieves World Record for Largest Granny Square

Stephen Duneier, the Yarn Bomber, has achieved his goal of a World Record Granny Square! It’s made entirely with Red Heart Super Saver yarn, and it took him over 2 years to make.

Yarn bombing, also known as yarn graffiti, involves putting temporary crochet or knit coverings on public objects. Yarn bombing is non-destructive and can be easily removed, unlike traditional graffiti. Stephen has done several large-scale installations over the past few years, including the Alien Campsite we wrote about last year.

Photo courtesy of Yarnbomber.comPhoto courtesy of Yarnbomber.com

Photo courtesy of Yarnbomber.com

On his website, Stephen describes the start of the granny square process: “On July 21st, 2013 I began what I thought would be just another of the many granny squares I had been making for my Saddlerock Yarnbomb. Then it dawned on me, since starting a new square took the most effort, it would be much more efficient to make much larger ones. When it reached 4 feet across I wondered what the record for the largest granny square might be. Turns out there wasn’t a category for it yet. When I applied for a new category to be started, I was rejected. So I appealed, and was rejected. This happened 2 more times until they relented and said if I make it at least 10 meters squared, I would have the record.”

While he’s been working on other projects, he’s also been working on his world-record attempt. After measuring a few months ago and falling short, Stephen redoubled his efforts to crochet the granny square. He had a few hiccups getting the square laid out for the official measurement, but it was taken on May 15, 2016 in Santa Barbara, CA.

World Record Granny Square By the Numbers

1,311 square feet
Over 60 poundsHalf a million stitches30 miles of yarn9 hours to lay it out
Over 2 years to make